Still alive!!

So this month I’ve had no end of connection problems after a sudden move, the recent £1.9k loss due to connection dropout as I mentioned in my previous post was a complete rookie error. Having spoken to my ISP again they seem to have messed up the order several times, finally it’s looking like it will be rectified on the first of Feb. In the mean time I have a friends I can work from a little in the afternoons, today was my first day back since the disaster!

Turned out ok for the time, its bizarre how a little bit of time away can often have a positive impact on results!

I also have had a few messages asking for general tips, one of which I thought I’d answer here:

Danny said: “Have you any tips for me or anything in particular I should really practise on to hone my skills?”

Something I hinted at in a previous post HERE was the fact that not every situation is the same and treating them all the same will often result in varied results, this may be the reason you find trading one, two or three races one after another result in a good outcome to only find in the fourth all profit is lost, or even worse ending in a hefty loss!

So in order to ‘hone’ your skills I would advise anyone to take a step back, look at the different markets and all the contributing factors much like i say in the Pre Race Trading Guide. Learn what situations are more than likely to behave in the way you profit from best, everyone is an individual and for that reason some styles/markets will suit some more than others.

The reason my results are often so consistent is because I manage to ‘switch modes’ as it were quickly to suit the given situation, a portion of this will take anyone time as it’s a personal thing.

So you’re probably now thinking that’s great but im no better off than when I started reading this post. Take a moment to sit down and make a list of your strengths and weaknesses.

For example you might think the majority of my profits come from small scalps and the losses often come when im trying to take a big swing and it goes against me! So why not focus on the small scalps and completely abandon the swing trading just for now and hone in on your scalping, find the right environments in the markets that suit you behaving this way and avoid the highly volatile situations that result in fast moves that frequently leave scalpers high and dry.

Much like the previous post it’s a case of walking into Tesco to the reduced aisle and picking up yourself a bargain! forget about lingering in the over isle’s and giving away your cash to products at a unvaluable price!

It’s also important to highlight this is a bit of a personal affair, it may take some time to realise what you like and what you dislike when trading, you don’t have to be great at it all to make money!! and as time goes by this understanding alone will no doubt allow you to adapt in the different situations.

If you’re having trouble making decisions and understanding how you ‘feel’ when your trading often I’d say its a good idea to talk out loud when you trade, by doing this it’s harder to ignore a bad decision when you say out loud – ‘im not so sure on this now, maybe it’ll come back in’. If you hear yourself say it rather than just think it often it’s enough to do the right thing!

Hiya Caan, glad to see you back in the saddle.
My biggest problems in trying to make this game work has been my own discipline and greed. It took me a while to realise this, especially the greed bit. Why take 80p winnings when I can try for £1-60 and then lose £67??? Which is the way it has been going. I started to think about this discipline thing and decided I had 2 major problems, one being my concentration and the other my choice of horses to trade. I was just picking horses at random and laying or backing depending on how I thought the market was looking. I think picking horses randomly only works some of the time and then it’s down more to luck. I then decided to pick certain horses, the big mistake here was that I picked horses priced quite high and laying first, which worked a lot, but when it went Pete Tong, it went proper Pete Tong. Back to the skint drawing board I went and decided to choose a horse with good ratings, not necessarily the favourite. I tried this out with the old pretend money in training mode and had a great deal of success, so on Friday just gone I took the plunge (again!!!!) and used proper real money. I didn’t jump in BIG style, I just took baby steps, winning in each of the 11 races I traded on, with a profit of £22-56. Saturday was my football day, so I didn’t trade, but wished I had, had some money on the game I went to, Watford going 2-0 up before City came back strong in the second half. Which reminds me. So lethal have City been this season in front of goal the odds on them scoring 4, 5 or 6 have been getting lower and lower. The son of one of my work mates, wanted City to beat Cardiff 4-0 last week, but the odds were only 9/1, which for his usual £3 bet were not very good. He was convinced they would score 4 and noticed that 4-2 was priced at 66/1, so he went for it and won handsomely. Anyway, I digress, as usual!!!!
So Sunday I was feeling very confident. First 6 races, all winning races with an average of just over £2 per race, then BANG, my concentration was totally messed up, the greed thing clicked in and the £67 loss steam rolled me. I’d tried to rescue the situation, making the loss as small as I could but just ended up in chaos and made the whole thing worse. I had, had that 80p profit, wanted more, waited and then watched it all slip away so fast. Much to my credit, I quit for the day, at one time I would have gambled to try to get back my losses, but I didn’t and felt pleased with myself for that but bloody upset that I had let something spoil my concentration.
Today, I sat down and carried on as if that £67 never happened and had winning trades in all 13 of the races, I didn’t bother with the last race at Wolverhampton, for a nice profit of £39-26.
Just going back to the football thing before I close. The lad’s in the local boozer have been having Manchester United to win 3-2 in every game they play and they are well in profit and one of them has started to do 3-2 for both Manchester teams on Betfair and using cash out for some good profits!
Laters Caan,
Steve

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